Women’s access to health facilities decreased: GWHI

KABUL (TOLOnews): The Global Women’s Health Index Institute (GWHI) in a recent report highlighted the rising problems for women regarding access to health facilities.
“Before the takeover, women’s access to care, while showing small signs of improvement in areas such as Kabul, was still below international standards,” the GWHI said in a report. “But now, across Afghanistan, women are unable to visit health clinics or have a doctor examine them without a mahram — a male chaperone. If preventive care was rare in 2021 in Afghanistan, it is likely almost nonexistent in 2022, putting the lives of millions of Afghan women and girls at even greater risk, and making it even more important for their voices to be heard.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said that it has created dozens of facilities for women across the country.
“More than 150 hospitals are active, and we hired more than 3,000 health employees. We are trying to provide health facilities in areas where there was war and fighting in the past 20 years,” said Sharafat Zaman Khail, a spokesman for the MoPH. The doctors said that many people are obliged to bring their patients to Kabul due to the lack of health services in the provinces.
“Many patients come from Paktia and Helmand. They say there is no female doctor,” said a doctor at the Najmulsama Shafajo hospital.
However, the residents of Kabul voiced concerns over the shortage of female doctors in the country, saying that women are facing severe challenges in access to health facilities.
“The Ministry of Public Health must hire female doctors, so that the people are not forced to bring their patients to Kabul,” said a resident of Kabul.
“We came from Maidan Wardak. There was war in the past 20 years in our village. There is no female doctor, we call on the Minister of Public Health to hire female doctors,” said a resident of Kabul.